Fingerboard for stringed musical instrument



I ff@ Sept. 30, 1958 B. H. PLANTS FINGERBOARD FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Deo. 20, 1956 ali!! 1. .tra

nited States Patent O M FINGERBOARD FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Bei-dell H. Plants, Washington, Pa., assignor of tive pern cent to William C. Hart, Washington, Pa.

Application December 20, 1956, Serial No. 629,640 2 Claims. (Cl. 84--274) This invention relates to newl and useful improvements in stringed musical instruments such as violins, violas, cellos, guitars, and the like, and particularly the invention concerns itself with the finger board of such instruments.

The principal object of the invention is to substantially improve the tone of the instrument, this object being attained by a novel congurational arrangement of the finger board which permits vibrations of the strings to be directed smoothly over the nger board into the resonant sound box or body of the instrument, so that the tones produced are greatly superior to those resulting from the use of finger boards of conventional types.

Conventional finger boards are usually of an arcuate cross-section having a uniform curvature from one side to the other. As such, they do not compensate for dilerent characteristics of vibrations resulting, for example, from a bass string on one side and a treble string on the other. However, in accordance with the invention, a por-tion of the finger board has an uneven curvature from one side to the other so as to produce a slope of the finger board toward the resonant body of the instrument, such slope being greatest in the region of the nger board which underlies the bass string and smallest in the region which underlies the treble string, whereby the iinger board is better adapted to respond to the different characteristics of vibrations produced by the different strings and produce tones of a highly improved quality in the sound box.

With the foregoing more important objects and features in view and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention will be understood from the following description taken in conjunction With the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters of reference are used lto designate like parts, and wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view of the improved finger board and associated strings of a musical instrument, the latter being shown by dotted lines;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the finger board per se;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view thereof;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary longtudinal sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 4--4 in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 5 5 in Figure 2; and

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 6 6 in Figure 2.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing in detail, the general reference numeral 10 designates a stringed musical instrument such as a violin, although it is to be understood that the same is shown for illustrative purposes only and that the teachings of the invention may be applied as well to other similar instruments such as violas, cellos, guitars, and the like.

As such, the instrument 10 includes a resonant body vor Sound box 11 provided with a neck 12 terminating at Patented Sept. 30, 1958 its outer end in a peg box 13, while a finger board designated generally by the numeral 14 extends along the neck 12 and over the body 11. A set of strings 15 pass in the usual manner from the peg box 13 over the finger board 14 to a tail piece 16 on the body 11, these strings having the usual diierent tone producing qualities and including a bass string 15b at one side and a treble string 15t at the other side of the set, as will be clearly apparent. As will be also noted, the strings 15 pass over the customary bridge 17.

The invention resides in a novel coniigurational arrangement of the finger board 14, as will be presently described. While conventional nger boards are usually of an arcuate cross-section with a uniform curvature from one side to the other, the finger board in accordance with this invention has a convex upper surface 18 which is uniform in transverse curvature only from the outer end 14a of the finger board to a point 19 intermediate the ends of the board and at the side thereof adjacent the bass string 15b. As shown in Figure l, the point 19 is disposed adjacent the connection of the neck 12 to the body 11 and over the body, as illustrated.

The upper surface 18 of uniform transverse curvature is interrupted by a bend line or break line 20 which extends from the point 19 obliquely to a point 21 at the other side of the nger board, that is, on the side adjacent the treble string 151., the point 21 being located adjacent the inner end 14b of the board so that the bend line 20 extends obliquely of the board at an angle of approximately 30.

The portion of the finger board inwardly of the bend line 20 is sloped longitudinally inwardly as well as more toward the side having the point 19 thereon than to the side having the point 21 thereon, this sloping portion being designated by the numeral 22, as distinguished from `the portion 18 of uniform curvature.

As will be readily apparent, the region of greatest slope of the portion 22 is adjacent the bass string 15b, While the region of smallest slope is adjacent the treble string 15t, While the intermediate region between these aforementioned two regions is disposed therebetween, underlying the intermediate strings in the set. Thus, in Figure 5, the dimension 23 indicates the relatively small longitudinally inward slope of the finger board under the treble string 15t, while in Figure 4 the dimension 24 indicates a somewhat greater but less than maximum slope at the longitudinal center line of the board, that is, between the intermediate strings 15m. The dimension 24 is also shown in Figure 3, the latter also showing by the dimension 25 the greatest slope of the board under the bass string 15b. In a transverse plane, a typical slope or deviation from uniform curvature is shown at 26 in Figure 6.

It is to be particularly noted that the finger board is of a uniform thickness in both directions from the bend line 20, so that as a result of the sloping arrangement above described, the lower surface of the board in its sloped portion 22 is closer to the instrument body 11 than the lower surface of the uniformly curved portion 18, this variation being proportionate to the degrees of curvature or sloping, as already explained, and coordinated with the position of the respective strings 15, whereby the different vibrations set up by the respective strings, when actuated, iind compensation in the configuration of the nger board and in the proximity of its various portions to the body 11, so that such vibrations are transmitted to the resonant body in a smooth manner and produce tones of a superior quality, regardless of the string from which they originate. This functional difference is in contrast with a conventional finger board, wherein the uniform cross-sectional curvature thereof does not compensate for transmission of vibrations of different strings to the instrument vbody.

It may be noted that for illustrative purposes the dimentions 23, 24, 25 and 26 have been exaggerated somewhat in the drawing and that, from a vpractical standpoint, the respective variations in curvature need be only relatively small.

While in the'foregoingthere has been described and shoWn-thepreferred embodiment of the invention, various modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the linvention relates. Accordingly, it is not desired to limit the inventionto this disclosure, and various -modifications may be resorted-to,=such as may lie within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. t

`What is claimed as new is:

1. In a stringedmusical-instrument, the combination of a resonant body havinga neck'thereon, la finger board extending along said neck inwardly over said body, and a set of strings disposedabove said finger board and including a bass string at one side of the set, said finger board being of an arcuate cross-section having a uniform thickness and affording a convex upper surface having a transversely uniform curvature from the outer end of the finger board to a point over said body adjacent said neck and at the side of the finger board adjacent said bass string, said upper surface presenting a bend line extending from said point obliquely to a point at the other side of the finger board adjacent its inner end, saidfinger-board vbeing sloped from saidbend line longitudinally inwardly and unevenly more to the side having the first mentioned point thereon than to the other side, whereby a region of greatest slope of the finger board underlies said bass string.

2. A nger board for stringed musical instruments having inner and outer ends adapted to be disposed adjacent a tail piece and a key box respectively, said finger board having a convex upper surface of a transversely uniform curvature from the outer end of the finger board to a point at one side thereof intermediate its ends, said upper surface presenting a bend line eX- tending from said point obliquely to a point at the other side of the finger board adjacent its inner end, said finger board being sloped from said bend line longitudinally inwardly and unevenly more to the side having the first mentioned point thereon than to the other side, portions -of said finger board'disposed oppositely from saidbend line-*being uniformly thick in cross-section and a region of greatest slope of the finger board being adapted to underlie'a bass string-of the stated instrument.

-ReferencesCited in the file of this patent `UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,290,177 Grimson Jan. 7, 1919 

